Moving...

Is a lengthy process. Sigh.

Once we ARE moved in, however, our place will be really nice :) Until then we are tripping over things and having unnecessary arguments.

Which is compounded by the fact that I can't lift or move anything, seeing as how the Turkey needs approximately the space twins normally use. I checked a picture of myself against a picture of my sister on the day she gave birth to her baby girl - at six months I'm as big as she was at nine.

My mother found this very amusing. SO far I don't mind, but if I get to the point at the end where I can't drive because I can't sit behind the wheel of a car without my belly getting in the way it will make me cranky.

Life, the universe, etc.

My sister and her husband recently became parents to a lovely baby girl. She's really da*& cute, I'm serious. This has gotten me thinking about parenthood and the trials and tribulations facing parents today. So many people wait to have children until they can 'afford' to do so. (This is a fallacy. One never really knows what the costs and benefits of parenthood are until one is actually doing it.) I have a slightly different philosophy. Granted, what I'm about to write is probably what many people are thinking about but don't put into words, but hear me out.

Having children has much less to do with finances than with the readiness of the parents. For example: my sister and her husband are at a point in their lives where they will be better able to give that gorgeous little darling the attention and love she deserves than if they'd tried having a child earlier, what with grad school and working etc. While their lives haven't stopped and they will still be working, etc, they've chosen this time in order to benefit their child. In my mind this is one example of how ready they are to be parents.

I only hope that when it's my turn I'm able to be a good mom.

Skiing and other pursuits

Last week STM and I went with my good friend to Maine to ski at Sugarloaf for a week. Little did we know that they take the term 'ski in-ski out condo' quite literally. We could watch the nearest lift out of one bay window to see when they started running in the morning and had to walk a whole 50 feet to the edge of the nearest slope. It was tough. STM and I have only really been skiing a few times, so going for a whole week was a real treat. Also, blueberry beer is intriguing, but that's beside the point. At the beginning of the week I was certainly the Queen of Green, the greener the better! We had daily lessons included in our ridiculously cheap ski package, so STM and I took advantage. By the week's end I was very sore from using all those muscles differently than usual, however, I was also up to the 'dark' blue slopes. I'm hoping that in the next trip I'll get to do some black diamond slopes. STM and my friend are still more advanced than I, but I'm narrowing the gap.

Also, I started a new crochet project. It's going to be a shawl for my grandmother. I'm planning to make one for each of them, actually, but the other will be made on my new 7' triangle loom, which FINALLY arrived! It sorta hangs like a picture on the wall, which is neat!

My sister, SWMBO, had her little girl on January 18th. Needless to say my sister hasn't posted a blog entry since, lol! I am now addicted to watching the Flickr account with the pictures to see when they post more :)

So. Today is my first day back from vacation, and I had 95 emails in my box this morning. I'm still going through them. I suppose I should go continue with that....

Tea and Sleep.

So this morning STM and I were slowly awakening. This is pretty normal, as is the fact that NPR was what was interrupting our morning snooze time. There was a piece this morning that made it even harder to get out of bed, and explains a bit why I have such trouble sleeping earlier in the evening, especially recently.

Sigh.

Modern society does not respect sleep. This is a terrible thing.

So, as with a usual day, my chronic sleep deprivation hit me in the middle of the afternoon. I'm eschewing coffee (again) because in addition to being too much caffeine it's tough on my stomach.

My sister's tea saved me. One of the teas she gifted me for Christmas is called 'grapefruit.' it's black tea with some bits of grapefruit in it and it smells divine. Also, as you may guess from the description, it's quite the picker-upper.

Thank you CGB!

Crafty with a "C" things...

So, as some of you may be aware, friends of ours have a sheep farm. This has quickly engendered a fascination with fiber in me, along with many a fun weekend doing things such as feeding llamas and sheep and dogs and cats and horse (did I miss anybody? Oh, yeah, the people :) )and helping with crutching and shearing and preparing for lambing, etc. I think I really fell in love during lambing season last year when Super Thin Man and I went up and saw some day old little lambkins - they are truly cute.

ANYWAY...so this evolved into taking a class from Ashley (the shepherdess) on how to hand spin fiber. It's very soothing and there are lots of different fun things to try and spin (Yes, I actually did try to spin the cotton wad you get in the top of a large bottle of ibuprofen. It is much easier to spin wool or llama or angora.)

Two of my sisters are knitters. This, I feel, may be enough knitters in one immediate family. Thus, I am learning to weave. I have procured a small triangle loom and am currently experimenting with my first gift project - a scarf for a friend who lives overseas.

Thus begins the cycle of my weaving and fiber fetish exploits in blog form.

In the spirit of the season?

Um, well, in reference to something that is in progress on my sister's blog, I went and found this.

As always, good for a laugh :)

Argh!!

Stupid Ancestors. Shoulda' just bought the recipe.

Then, this would be me.

I'm sure that all of my sisters would be much more tastefully enfrocked, even if we WERE beer heiresses.

Which could SO easily have happened.

WHEN will I get a time machine for my birthday? WHEN??? (I'd take a Pontiac Solstice GXP instead, if anyone is taking notes...)

Office Orchid Update!

So, in a move akin to my sister's updates on her varied and sundry knitting projects, an update to the office orchid situation I mentioned last month.

The two orchids I rescued from possible death have both survived, and are actually well on the road to recovery. One of them has several visible, healthy new roots. The other, the one whose root decay was much worse, has become visibly healthier. This points to root growth in the medium where I can't see it.

My third office orchid, the Kalapana, has new growth but is kind of in a stall. I don't think the office has the right sort of atmosphere for them to truly thrive. My orchids at home get a similar amount of attention and care--in fact I spend more time with my office orchids--but the office ones don't grow as quickly and haven't shown any indications of future infloresence.

I have experienced dramatic improvement in health and happiness of other plants when I have taken them out of my office and into my apartment in the past, that may be the solution here, too.

In short, my office has too many stressed out people for plants to be happy. Poor vibrations and bad karma, apparently.

Capstone

Just for the record, when I finish this damn paper, I'm going to find a way to post it on this website--all 35 damn pages of it--so all of you can see why I've suddenly turned into something approaching a cross between Bridezilla and the most passive-aggressive person you've ever met. It's not you, it's not wedding planning, I don't have cold feet, and I am actually really unhappy to have to keep telling you all to leave me alone at such a crucial period in the planning process.

I'm Sorry.

But it's not going to get a great deal better until this weekend.

Air and Space

This past weekend, my sister came down to DC. She had this amazing deal by which for $15 she got a chartered bus round trip and a ticket to the Spy Museum (I'm jealous. I've never been, at least not yet, and the tix cost $16 if you just walk in. I don't know how her school found that deal, but they deserve some props for that). Since she was going to have the afternoon free, we decided to get together. Super Thin Man, my sister and I went to the Hard Rock Cafe, DC for lunch. My sister had never been to any Hard Rock (oh, the Horror!), and I'd never been to the DC one, so it was a good time for all (Super Thin Man has been there, he was amused by the two of us giggling like silly people :D).

Then we went to the Air and Space Museum. We had though to take sis to the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space in Northern VA, but we realized how much time that would eat up, so we went to the one on the Mall. Udvar-Hazy. Udvar-Hazy. Teehee, I love saying that :D

Super Thin Man forgot his professional ID (again) which meant he didn't get the free ticket for the IMAX (again), but we went anyway-those 3D effects were really cool.

Then we decided to go check out the simulators. Well, sis wanted to go with me. I was pilot and she was gunner-we hit all of one target. This was mainly due to my inability to get the plane to go where I wanted it to go. Super Thin Man was by himself and therefore gunner/pilot-he hit six. Gee, I wonder who spent their youth playing flight simulator video games :D Next time I vow to:
A) Practice first so I have a better idea of how to use the controls and
B) Mention that if she ACTUALLY wants to hit something, she might consider going with STM.

All in all, it was a very nice afternoon and an ideal study break. I hope she gets the chance to come down like that again!

And one more...

For my sister to appreciate.

Well, two: this is for my other sister to appreciate.

I give people, I give.

So, although I've been posting (pretty much for myself, at least at first) on this blog for a bit now, my sisters hadn't been in on the fun. But now that the filial blogs are reaching critical mass, I figure it's only fair to pitch in to the madness.

My boss, whose birthday is today, is a curious creature. I've mentioned his oddness before on this blog, but I am forced to repeat myself: an Actual Good Boss is a rare thing, and must be commended when found.

Happy Birthday Shawn, whereever you happen to be today. I hope you took your convertible and went to some beach somewhere or something like that!

In other news: Masters Degrees. Not for the faint of heart. I commend my brother in law, seeing as how he is almost finished a PhD. Wow-this Masters Degree is more than enough to handle for me...I don't think I'd be up to the challenge of a PhD. I might feel differently if I wasn't working almost full time and planning a wedding, but hey, life happens.

Speaking of wedding planning, aside from an intriguing idea to have my dress made from 'hemp' fabric (tee hee), we've found ourselves a caterer!! Oddly enough, we ended up going with the woman who reminds me strongly of my sister. Well, at least I know that if she's like my sister, who (well, okay, all of us are like this, but hey, she came first :D) has a bit of an attention to detail thing...some call it perfectionism, but since I also suffer from this I'll be kind...then I figure she'll make a good wedding caterer. :D

And, in other news, I get to write an entire paper on the history of wine in Eastern Europe and how the perception of it can be seen as a reflection of social change. No Kidding. I can even support that thesis.